life and puppies

So, Qristyl left us last week with a dress the judges deemed boring and aging.  I agree with the former, but not the latter.  That model already kind of  looked ‘old’ and I really didn’t think the dress added to her age in any way.  Sometimes I think the judges are too in love with short short.   Also, as you know, I don’t mind boring.  Though I realize it’s a competition and being innovative is a huge part of the undertaking.  It’s hard for me to see — until the cameras really zoom in — some of the flaws in sewing the judges point out.  I wish Lifetime (and, previously, Bravo) would do something to give the viewers greater understanding of what the clothes REALLY look like.  For example, I actually thought Logan’s dress was kinda cool until the cameras zoomed in during judging to reveal the lace craptastical.  Eeks! 

And this week Johnny bit it on the probably-dreaded crazy ‘fabric’ project, which required designers to make a piece out of newspaper.  I really love these nutty projects because I think it especially highlights the innovation, creativity and general genius-ness of the designers.  I was so far from disappointed.  I thought the trenchcoat was damn amazing, the feather-y ball gown was stunning, and Althea’s brilliant and meticulate shift was awe-inspiring.  I loved this episode.  And, again, Johnny needed to go.  I don’t even really care about whether he was lying (probably the only time you’ll ever hear me say that), but he bugged because he just really bored me.  I really just didn’t want to hear anything else from his mouth, or see any of the things he produced. 

Moving on…I’ve developed an annoying habit of waking up between the hours of 3 a.m to 5 a.m. to watch ‘Without a Trace’ on TNT.  I can’t really articulate why I like this show so much, but I clearly do.  There was a problem with the episode I watched tonight, though.  Well, actually, the episode kinda grated on me from the beginning — it seemed forced.  But the articulable super bug was when Agent Johnson (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) said to Agent Malone (Anthony LaPaglia) that so-and-so had been ‘exonerated’ from a charge of child kidnapping because the police had failed to Miranda-ize him before getting some sort of (presumable inculpatory) statement.  Johnson went on to characterize these events as the defendant being released on a ‘technicality.’  There are so many things wrong with these things that they really — even at 4 a.m. — irked me.  I know that I am some sort of prosecutor, but I don’t think even the most zealous among us would call failing to Miranda-ize someone a ‘technicality.’  Truthfully, I don’t even know what anyone means by a ‘technicality.’  Generally, I think folks mean anything that prevents the defendant from getting the death penalty but also fails to demonstrate conclusively the defendant’s absolute innocence.  And this brings me to part two of the bug-ster with Johnson’s narrative.  Exonerated?  On a Miranda violation?  WHAT?  Exonerated does not mean ‘let go’ or ‘released.’  It means that it has been demonstrated that the person did not commit the crime.  It means that physical evidence concludes that the person could not have done it, it means someone else has confessed that he was the lone gun man, it means that the accused was not in the country at the time of the offense.  It does not mean that the person was released because of a Miranda violation.  And any federal agent with the experience of Johnson would never, ever confuse the term.  And this bugged me so much, I suspect, because I feel that the show is usually well-written and smart.  And this was just dumb.

I want to post about all of the loss that we have — collectively and individually — suffered as of late, but I think I need more time.

Happy Rosh Hashannah, all!